VILLAINS V. HEROES MARVEL WORLDWIDE, INC., ET AL; COUNTER CLAIM KIRBY ET AL., V.MARVEL WORLDWIDE, INC(2011) By: Penny Hartwick LIBM 6320 November 21, 2011 (Microsoft Office Clipart, 2007 )

PLAINTIFFS Marvel Worldwide, Inc., Marvel Characters, Inc. and MVL Rights, LLC Marvel claims that Jack Kirby’s comic book characters were created under works made for hire and that Marvel has the copyrights to these characters (Marvel v Kirby, 2011). Comic Book Cover- heridan2/project4/Marvel.html

DEFENDANTS “The Kirby heirs served the Plaintiffs with 45 notices purporting to terminate Kirby’s assignment of his federally-protected copyrights in a number of Marvel editions that were published between 1958 and 1963” (Marvel v Kirby, 2011, p.2). Lisa R. Kirby, Barbara J. Kirby, Neal L. Kirby, and Susan M. Kirby Photo of Jack Kirby- n2/project4/biography.html

COPYRIGHT ISSUE  “The issue at hand is who owns the copyrights to the superhero comic book characters such as Spiderman, The Fantastic Four, Hulk, the Avengers, and many others” (Krah, 2011, p.1).  The works in question were created or co-created by Jack Kirby between 1958 and  Kirby worked for Marvel as a freelance artist. (Krah, 2011).  A breach of contract was made after Marvel did not return all of Kirby’s works he requested. The statute of limitations had expired before anything was done about this breach (Marvel v Kirby, Doc. 49, 2011). (Microsoft Office Clipart, 2007)

APPLICABLE LAW The Copyright Act of 1909 states that an author can protect their work for 28 years and renew that protection for an additional 28 years. The law also states that the copyrights of works made for hire belong to the person who did the hiring (Hart, 2011). (Microsoft Office Clipart, 2007)

COURT DECISION U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon ruled in favor of Marvel Worldwide Inc. stating that the works in question made by Jack Kirby were considered works made for hire under the Copyright Act of 1909 (Krah, 2011). This “makes him exempt from the general copyright law that after a certain number of years authors and artists are able to obtain rights to their original creations” (Krah, 2011, p.1). (Microsoft Office Clipart, 2007)

REFLECTION I agree that the Copyright Act of 1909 applies in this case. I do not agree that the Kirby heirs have no right to a settlement for their father’s work. I feel that Marvel is the villain in this case, and that Jack Kirby was not treated fairly. There was an agreement between Marvel and Kirby, and Marvel failed to comply with that agreement. What is so sad is that “Marvel admitted to the Kirby’s that it still had about 60 pieces of Kirby’s original artwork” (Marvel v Kirby, Doc. 49, 2011, p.16). Marvel breached a contract and that is why I feel that the Kirby’s are the victims in this case. What Marvel did was morally unethical. Villains v. Heroes (Microsoft Office Clipart, 2007)

REFERENCES Hart, Terry. (2011). Marvel v. Kirby: Work for Hire and Copyright Termination. Retrieved from copyright-terminat... copyright-terminat Images from Microsoft Office Clipart. (2007) Krah, Jackie. (2011). Marvel vs. Kirby Estate: Battle Over Rights to Characters. Retrieved from rights-to-characters/ rights-to-characters/ Marvel Worldwide, Inc. v. Kirby, 10 Civ. 141 (CM) (KNF) (2011). Retrieved from Marvel Worldwide, Inc. v. Kirby, 10 Civ. 141 (CM) (KNF) Doc. 49 (2011). Retrieved from york/nysdce/1:2010cv00141/356975/49 york/nysdce/1:2010cv00141/356975/49 Photo of Jack Kirby. Fair Use. Retrieved from Photo of Captain America Comic Book Cover. Fair Use. Retrieved from